He said it was important for stakeholders to identify learning challenges of pupils at early stages and implement innovative strategies to improve their performance to ensure that they did not go through the full cycle of education only to end up as failures.

Dr Adutwum made the call at a stakeholders meeting in Tamale on Wednesday on improving the learning outcomes of students in the five regions in the north.

The meeting, organized by the Ministry of Education (MoE) in partnership with STAR Ghana Foundation, brought together officials of the MoE and non-state actors in education in the five regions to deliberate on the gaps in education leading to low learning outcomes amongst pupils in the area and come out with suggestions to reverse the trend.

Statistics from MoE showed that the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions consistently take the last three positions in students’ achievements in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations and West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations.

The poor students’ achievements in the north are attributed to high pupil-teacher ratio, inadequate textbooks, poor and inadequate infrastructure, teacher absenteeism amongst others.

Dr Adutwum expressed need for all stakeholders expecially non-state actors to leverage resources to make an impact on the education front in the country.

He said government was introducing a number of reforms in the areas of teacher training, school management and pupils assessment to improve education and learning outcomes of pupils and students in the country.

He, therefore, called for effective collaboration between non-state actors and government to improve the country’s education sector.

Mr Abukari Ayuba, Head of Programmes, Research and Advocacy at Northern Network for Education Development made a presentation on the contributions of non-state actors to education in the country calling for reforms in appointment of heads of schools to ensure proper management leading to improved performance.

Mr Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Acting Chief Executive Officer of STAR Ghana Foundation said the poor outcomes of pupils and students in the north were an existential threat to the security of the country calling for a tripartite partnership amongst government, non-state actors and parents to reverse the trend.

Other participants suggested provision of adequate resources to the education sector, and need for nutritious meals for pupils to improve their learning outcomes.